The importance of emptying oneself

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“The simple fact is God-esteem is infinitely more life-giving than self-esteem and infinitely rarer.” --Fr Ted

One cannot pour new wine into a full bottle of old wine unless we empty the bottle of old wine first. In a similar way, we must empty our old “self” before we can get a new “self” filled with the bright light from God! Emptying oneself is not an easy task, in fact, it can be scary and fill a person with insecurity and anxiety at the beginning, but to rid oneself of one’s own will to do only that of the will of God is well worth the painful effort. The reward in Heaven will probably be great for anybody willing to truly empty oneself while here in this lowliest of worlds!.

If a person still wishes to extract pleasures from this world, one is not yet completely empty of oneself, myself included! At what stage are you at? I’m still trying!

I know that many will claim that God made this world and wants us to be happy in it, including our extracting worldly pleasures from within it, and this might be true for many, but not all of us!

Comments and criticisms are most welcome!
 
I admire your piety.

Have you considered joining a monastic order?
 
What happens if you empty a really good bottle of wine and refill the bottle with mad dog 20/20? That is what is happening in the church today. I had a great faith and we knew our faith was right. We had a set of moral standards, but today they have all been watered down to becoming meaningless.

We refilled that $3,000 bottle of wine with a $5.00 bottle of Mad Dog.
 
As we empty ourselves and allow ourselves to be filled with the Light of our Lord Jesus Christ using all the means He gave us to do so, then the darkness in the world will decrease.
 
philipl said:
What happens if you empty a really good bottle of wine and refill the bottle with mad dog 20/20? That is what is happening in the church today. I had a great faith and we knew our faith was right. We had a set of moral standards, but today they have all been watered down to becoming meaningless.

We refilled that $3,000 bottle of wine with a $5.00 bottle of Mad Dog.
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I can see where many would likely share your view, but personally, I’ll continue to support the Church. Like St Peter once said to Christ, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”
 
“MY CHILD, you should give all for all, and in no way belong to yourself. You must know that self-love is more harmful to you than anything else in the world. In proportion to the love and affection you have for a thing, it will cling to you more or less. If your love is pure, simple, and well ordered, you will not be a slave to anything. Do not covet what you may not have. Do not possess anything that can hinder you or rob you of freedom.”
–The Imitation of Christ, Book 2, Chapter 27

The more I meditate on the greatness of God, the more I think I can see where much of the self is a mere illusion. To me, the self is nothing more than the perceiver of thought, memory, emotions, and bodily sensations, and the manager of most bodily behavior, including certain cognitions, and the store house of memory. In short, the self is one part of the soul which is immortal and comes directly from God. Concepts like self-love and self-esteem, along with the value of any and all worldly pleasures, I’m convinced, are mere illusions which will disappear upon the death of the body.
 
Robert_Sock said:
If I had to live this life over I would run, not walk, to the nearest monastery!
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But. If not your call best to stay in the world as salt. Think of how much more you can do in the world if you are a conduit of God’s love. It could be that the monastery is something that is full of you rather than empty.
 
Michael_Mayo said:
But. If not your call best to stay in the world as salt. Think of how much more you can do in the world if you are a conduit of God’s love. It could be that the monastery is something that is full of you rather than empty.
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I believe that prayer is number one and study is number two, both which can be best done in a monastery. Even the people in the world as a whole would benefit greatly from my prayer and study, much more than me doing good works outside the monastery. The Cloud of Unknowing is explicit in the power of contemplative pray has on others.

Anyway, I’m not in a monastery, but I live in almost complete solitude, and soon I will quit posting for the most part and live in silence too, However, I do often listen to classical music, with plenty of Gregorian chants, Russian Orthodox chants, and Masses, all of which I believe brings me into closer communion with God. In Jewish mysticism, it is believed that when a pious Jew dies, he is able to affect people here in this world more than when he actually lived in the world! I’m hoping that the same holds true for me!
 
Robert_Sock said:
I believe that prayer is number one and study is number two, both which can be best done in a monastery. Even the people in the world as a whole would benefit greatly from my prayer and study, much more than me doing good works outside the monastery. The Cloud of Unknowing is explicit in the power of contemplative pray has on others.

Anyway, I’m not in a monastery, but I live in almost complete solitude, and soon I will quit posting for the most part and live in silence too, However, I do often listen to classical music, with plenty of Gregorian chants, Russian Orthodox chants, and Masses, all of which I believe brings me into closer communion with God. In Jewish mysticism, it is believed that when a pious Jew dies, he is able to affect people here in this world more than when he actually lived in the world! I’m hoping that the same holds true for me!
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I Have no regrets about life choices now though at one time I did, I believe God had helped me decide in spite of myself. Certainly the main objective is to choos love, as you signature urges. And then to live that love in whatever mode of life God calls us to. But we do have to try our best to stay centered in God, to stay connected to God. It seemed to be different things for different people and even different times in our lives.

I also wanted to be a monk at one time. I went with Franciscans instead. It was a blesses time but even that was not the place for me. Where I am and what I do now are not things my ego would have picked. More self emptying than I bargained for. Thanks be to God.
 
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